Square Enix E3 2018 press conference – The content was good, but everything wasn’t on point

If you haven’t somehow been spoiled of E3’s 2018 conference from Square Enix, I’m just going to tell you now, Final Fantasy 7’s Remake was not shown in any way during this presentation. So unfortunately, we’ll have to wait another time before more information comes out on that.

Nevertheless, starting off, we got some more footage from “Shadow of the Tomb Raider“. It’s at this point, we are told the plot, that Lara is trying to stop a Mayan apocalypse. A major gameplay mechanic that the game focuses on is camouflage, as Lara uses on using things like mud to blend into the environment and hide from predators, or take down bad guys. We get a scene of the plane Lara is in falling apart, losing her guide/friend, before buckling in and bracing for impact over a snowy mountain range.

There was one game that pretty much got drowned among the other game announcements at Square Enix E3 2018 press conference, and that game would be “The Awesome Adventures Of Captain Spirit”. So, what is this game all about then? Well, it’s a free “Life is strange” spin-off game that takes place in the same universe. You play as the nine-year-old boy Chris, who escapes reality with fantastical adventures as his alter ego (the game is launching to PC, PS4 and Xbox One on the 26th of June).

Right off the bat. The enemy AI that we see in the game trailer is not very impressive, or at least doesn’t appear so, as someone who was just talking to the group a moment ago is quickly dispatched, and everyone acts as they just discovered the guy. The game’s combat seems to have a greater focus on stealth, and the developers say that Lara is becoming one with the spirit of the jungle (whatever that means). Anyways, “Shadow of the Tomb Raider” is set for a release on the 14th of September this year.

Next we got one of my personal favorite game developer studios. You see, PlatinumGames released a trailer for “Babylon’s Fall” at the Square Enix E3 2018 conference. It shows events happening over a long timeline, including the punishment of earth from a higher power, and the awakening of what appears to be the protagonist about to be attacked by a blue figure. Not much is known about this game quite yet, but it’s one I will definitely be keeping an eye on. Nevertheless, “Babylon’s Fall” is said to be released to PS4 and Steam sometime next year.

We get another clip from “NieR: Automata” as we are reminded that the game will be coming to Xbox June 26 of this year (yes, NieR: Automata” will soon launch on the Xbox One!). So now everyone can enjoy the game on 2/3s of the consoles available to gamers, and it will be able to be enjoyed by PC gamers as soon as Square fixes the broken port.

We get a nice look at “Octopath Traveler“, which shows a pixelated world with beautiful colors and lighting, as well as the different classes one will use in the game. Those being: Cleric, Scholar, Merchant, Soldier, Dancer, Apothecary, Thief, and Hunter. The game is set to release July 13th of this year.

Moving forward with Square Enix announcements at E3, more time was spent with “Just Cause” this time around. As Square Enix’s E3 show revealed a few story details for us for “Just Cause 4” . The area in which the game takes place is being oppressed by the powerful PMC group called the Black Hand. The game promises more possibilities than ever before. Enemies are smarter, and designed to keep the player on their toes. Also, the grapple in this game is now fully customizable and the game is friendlier to newcomers. “Just Cause 4” is set to release December 4th of this year.

That’s just the half of it though, because a new game was announced this time around as well. The said game seems to be about a deaf person. The game in question is “The Quiet Man“. Which is a game that shows us some very real-looking people. As a matter of fact, I thought they were actually using real people for the game the first time I saw the trailer. We see the kid beat up a couple of thugs before cutting to the title screen. I’ll be keeping my eye on this game as it seems to be pretty interesting. More information is set to come in August, so I assume they’ll be discussing it more at Gamescom.

Finally, Square ends on the title that has been the highlight of a lot of people’s days lately, “Kingdom Hearts 3“. Not much can be said about it. As it’s basically the same trailer that we saw at the Microsoft conference. Tangled, Frozen, Wreck-it-Ralph are all levels, Aqua has fallen into darkness, and there’s still an awkward lack of sound effects outside of the music. It just reminds me of “The Mummy” trailer that was accidentally uploaded before the sound effects were added. Oh well…Let’s hope that KH3 will be great on release when the game drops on the 29th of January next year.

So, to wrap all of this up. Square Enix had a really strong conference going for them. However, outside of a couple new titles, most of what they talked about were already seen coming a mile away. The trailers were at least interesting to watch, and I never felt bored, as the conference was only 30 minutes long, but I wish there were more surprises to be made. Though I guess you can’t help it when you premiere them all at the Xbox conference…

Entertainment Value: 3/5Games: 4/5Surprises: 2/5

Verdict: 3/5 (C)Square Enix E3 press conference wasn’t the strongest presentation out of the ones that’s been shown to us this year, but it was at least decent. It got to the point in a lot of its videos and announcing a few impressive games is always really nice. I just wish I could have been more surprised as so many of these titles were shown off at Microsoft’s conference and it took the fun out of the conference when I already knew what to expect.

Credit:
Robin Ek – Editor and co-writer.

***Disclaimer***
This is a personal opinion of the writer, and it doesn’t necessarily represent the other writers (nor The Gaming Ground´s) opinions.